I binge watched the entire Fast and Furious Series Here’s my thoughts-

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For a long time I’ve been planning on watching the Fast and Furious series. I wanted to see what all the proverbial ‘hype’ was about.*

I decided to watch them in chronological order.

So here we go-

Better Luck Tomorrow- 9.5/10

The little known prequel to the Fast and Furious series. While it’s set in the fast and furious universe it isn’t really anything at all like the other movies, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

A lot of people like to call modern movies worse than old ones but this film is the ultimate example of modern filmmaking, what I mean by this is that it is a movie no one could ever imagine making 20 or 30 years ago. It’s themes, plot, etc are very 21st century.

Like Saving Face, it is one of those fantastic early 2000s Asian American movies that just don’t get enough love. It annoys me to no end that people think that Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell and the live action Mu... (you know that’s a topic for another day) are somehow unprecedented and the first realistic asian-centric movies Hollywood has ever made. I think the new films (well the first 2) are nice but early 2000s Asian-centric movies are criminally underrated.

It’s an extremely dark movie but you somehow can’t help rooting for the main characters no matter what they do. It’s surprisingly complex and Shakespearean considering the suburban setting and I truly loved it.

The performances are astonishing throughout the board.

The fast and the furious- 10/10

I truly regret never watching the first fast and furious movie before (I had thought I had watched part of it on tv but that was actually the fourth film, more on that later)

What a spectacular movie ! A textbook example of 2000s film-making and culture. It’s fairly grounded and realistic unlike the movies that would follow. And the cast are all entertaining and relatable and downright likeable.

The climactic set piece with the truck is just top tier cinematography and film-making. Just top tier. The fact that we never see the truck driver’s face is frightening and makes him seem like some elemental force of justice. It’s intriguing that Mia is driving the car in the climactic scene, her character is only going to go downhill from here. Letty is just a legitimate badass here. Very different from the don’s girlfriend/token female driver she’ll turn into in a few movies, heck even Dom seems to fear her in this film, she is portrayed as the ‘top’ if their relationship if you will. She even has a badass feminist girl power moment when she wins her race. And watching her clobber Lance Tran reminds one of Girlfight in the best way. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez are just excellent. The most fascinating thing is that while this is probably the most car-related movie in the series (with the possible exception of FF3) it is really about the people involve in it and their emotions and relationships and struggles.*

Just an astonishing film.

The Turbo Charged Prelude

I’m not sure what rating I can give a 6 minute teaser more than anything but it was entertaining and funny so thumbs up I guess.

Fast and Furious 2- 8.5/10

It is probably the campiest of the original 3 that takes itself the least seriously. But camp is not fundamentally bad. It is very entertaining. Though while there are hints of romance between Walker’s character and the DEA agent this film ends up not having a real romantic sub-plot at all. Which always improves a movie exponentially in my opinion. Let’s get rid of all forced romance in movies please.

While there are several colourful characters, the one that stands out most of all is Devon Aoki’s character. I have always been a huge fan of Ms. Aoki. Her roles in the early 2000s symbolise the era and this film is no different. She often ends up being the best part of every movie she’s in. It is a tragedy she doesn’t appear often in movies anymore. If I were rich I would make a film with Devon Aoki in the starring role. She is an incredible talent.

The movie reminds me of bad boys but with more heart and charm. It’s never not a load of fun. Just an exciting movie to watch.

Los Bandeleros- 7/10

It’s a decent little short film that sets up later movies in a nice way. Not anything amazing but competent.

Fast and Furious- 5.75/10

As you can see this movie has a very confusing name. When I first saw part of this movie on tv I thought I was watching the first film and this it put me off the fast and furious franchise.

It’s not necessarily un-entertaining. It’s more mediocre than bad. It’s just another action blockbuster.

It is not a car movie at all.

Also the opening sequence was awful. CGI nonsense. Very jarring.*

It’s also a tad... unrealistic. It also seems to try and retcon the 2nd movie which is not nice. Why is Brian a cop again ? What happened to starting a garage with Roman !

Letty and Mia are reduced to little more than WAGs, their characters going back 20 years of women’s liberation.

Gal Gadot’s character is little more than eye candy.

The film also had an odd scene with several women making out. There was the odd instance of similar stuff in earlier movies and I am sure it wasn’t exactly intended to be LGBTQ+ representation there but in this film it was obvious, in your face gratuitousness. In 2020, it just comes off a creepy. Maybe back in 2010 it was trendy (Black Swan came out the same year) but yeah.

Also it seems like car knowledge has gone down. A guy in the movie has a car with nitromethane. Anyone who knows anything about cars will tell you running nitromethane in a road car is a stupid idea. There a few examples of nitromethane road cars but what do you think is more likely- the creators did no research or the creators did extensive enough research to find out about the few nitromethane road cars ? Especially since the most famous example was built years after this movie came out.

The film is trying to evoke a lot of nostalgia towards the first movie which sort of makes sense since this was around the time period that retro became really big. Also what’s with Dom’s hatred of import cars ? He was driving imports for most of the first movie heck Brian drove a muscle car for more of that movie then he did. I understand the final drag race symbolised import vs muscle culture for many but still !


Fast and Furious 5- 5.5/10

Even more unrealistic than the previous film. Small time thugs have turned into James Bond. Why would Dom’s crew be super-wanted criminals ? They stole a few DVD players !

The poor car knowledge is also extraordinary. They treat a DeTomaso Pantera as as valuable as a Ford GT. Possibly the greatest example of how poorly researched this whole enterprise was is that there was a part of the film in which someone says that the Ford GT has a 107.5 inch wheelbase which is insane. It has a 95 inch wheelbase, 107.5 is insane for a mid-engine race car from that era !

It’s probably the weakest film in the series. It’s not like it isn’t fun to watch. But it has little merit as a movie.

The female characters are again little more than girlfriends, having little actual ploy importance. Mia getting pregnant seems like a very odd and unnecessary plot point. Elena seems like a really forced and unnecessary romantic interest for Toretto. Especially as the post-credit scene makes it obvious she’s only a one movie special. Most of the characters in this movie are stereotypes and archetypes rather than interesting characters. It does have a funny moment at the end in which the film pokes fun at himself.

It also completely changes Tej’s character from FF2. A hacker ? What ? And creates a new the 2 black guys dynamic between Tej and Roman that I don’t really love. I preferred the Roman variant dynamic but I guess now Brian has Dom so Roman is no longer required.

Fast and Furious 6- 5.75/10

Maybe slightly better than the previous movie. An English villain is always beneficial and I really like Luke Evans. The movie is funny and the action scenes are slick and well done. The cars are not bad either.

The movie is definitely fantastical- vehicular warfare team... what ? It definitely benefits from leaving your brain at the theatre door. The plot twists are sort of eh... The dialogue could get very cringed at times. It felt like a lot of forced chemistry between the actors and characters but I guess some of these characters have known each other for years, still flashbacks would help. The movie would benefit so much from flashbacks between characters that teach us more about their relationships with each other. This criticism applies to the previous film as well and it will continue to apply.

Fast and Furious 3- 9/10

Let’s face it the first 3 movies is where it’s at. The red-headed step-child of the trio is the third instalment. It has an extremely likeable protagonist and cast in general. Han is a cool obi-wan Kenobi-esque figure. The movie is funny and the characters have personality and are all fairly 3 dimensional and interesting. The villain has the right blend of competency and incompetency. Again like Fast and Furious 2 it has no real romantic subplot, just the hints of one which benefits it immensely.

It’s an example of classy 2000s filmmaking and it gives us one of the best in-depth looks at what Japan is actually like. A lot of western movies cannot really communicate the complexities of Japan and since I’m not Japanese I can’t really say whether this movie did it successfully but it definitely a painted a more interesting picture of the country than most films do. It definitely looks more like what I think Japan does.

The story is actually quite good. In fact after the last 3 movies- a film with an actual plot was a breath of fresh air. 4 and 6 had the barest semblance of a plot and 5 didn’t even have that.

The cinematography, music and driving sequences were all excellent. The film had charm and character, which is surprisingly rare for a film to have. The movie has a nice, subtle Easter egg or two.

Fast and Furious 7- 6.25/10

The unfortunate death of Paul Walker gives this movie emotion that it didn’t really earn which makes it the best of the current batch until now.

The movie is even more far fetched than its predecessors. The story is yawn and very tropey. The dialogue is infantile. The plot twists are dumb (Dom and Letty being married is downright Bollywood). Again there seems to be a forced chemistry going on.*

Jason Statham is actually probably the movie’s strongest part. He’s cool as always.

Poor Mia, far from her old badass days, she is now a baby-pumping machine. She has no purpose in life other than to get pregnant and create emotional stakes for Brian and Dom.

The film talks about 10 second quarter miles in 2015 when modified cars had started doing 5 second quarter miles...

It’s not unentertaining though. Even without the unearned emotions from Paul Walker’s passing it would be a 5/10 movie not a 3/10 movie.

Furious 8- 7/10

The 8th movie was a return to form for the franchise. The people who were making it realised that it was time to throw reality out the door, the franchise could never be one car-related drama series again. It’s really a superhero movie or well the modern version of a superhero movie- what the film critic Lindsay Ellis calls a Genre Movie. A bit of comedy, a bit of story, a lot of CGI heavy action.

By embracing the insanity the film actually becomes a lot of fun.

Helen Mirren had a too brief role but it was amazing. Jason Statham is world class.

The film finally acknowledges it is not 2001 any more and Dom’s car now has 5000 horsepower, what you’d expect from a cutting edge modified muscle car in 2017. Miraculously everyone is still talking about 10 second quarter miles when cars with 5000 horsepower normally run in the 5s or the 6s. You’d need a truck (a semi not a pick-up) with 5000 horsepower to run 10 second quarter miles.

The film of course had to erase Mia’s character. Kerry’s character is ok, doesn’t do anything amazing. Ramsey is a weird addition to the team. You get the feeling she was added because someone looked at the horrible female cast and tacked her on there to give the cast some semblance of diversity. Hobbs has turned into the deuteragonist pretty much now that Walker has passed away. He fills the role of the 6’2”-ish former law enforcement officer well.

The whole plot line with Elena... da **** !!! Is this a harem anime in which Dom requires 20 love interests ! The people who make these movies clearly have some unresolved issues with childbirth and pregnancy because now Don has a baby too from another woman who was apparently pregnant for the entire events of FF 6, 3, 7 and possibly even the epilogue of 5 ! I can’t wait for F9 in which Letty and Ramsey are probably pregnant too. From now on I will assume all Fast and furious female characters are pregnant until expressly told they are not.

The action sequences are admittedly a lot of fun and as long as you can embrace the insanity it is a very enjoyable watch.

Hobbs and Shaw- 7.5/10

Oh Vanessa Kirby, you make everything in this world so much better.

Realising perhaps that the main family of the fast and furious series is something that one no longer wants to be associated with, this standalone spin off is about Johnson and Statham and it works.

There is a bit of romantic tension between Johnson and Kirby but the film chooses to leave it a little grey in the end thankfully.

Mirren is a legend and her dynamic with her children is excellent.

The film does something that no previous fast and furious movie has ever done- something truly extraordinary and never before seen... flashbacks !!! The chemistry between the Shaw siblings automatically becomes 10 times as good because of this simple change.

I also think the more English a fast and furious movie is the better it is. The dry English humour is top notch. The film has an Easter egg that was funny, if a bit in your face but it drew a laugh from me so all good. Statham and Johnson have amazing chemistry and are truly charming. Idris Elba is a top tier villain and I have done ideas about who the real big bad is. The dialogue is extremely well written and funny and feels like it exists in a different universe than the other recent fast and furious. It sort of feels like a Netflix film which isn’t inherently bad. Is it different from the early 2000s aesthetic of the first 3 films ? Yes. But that is not in itself a bad thing.

It is the strongest FF movie after the original trilogy for sure. I’m never against big tech corporations being portrayed as villains. The movie has character and a sense of style.



So yeah that is what I thought of this series which I have never really been into before and binge watched over the last 2 days.

The original trilogy and Better Luck Tomorrow were the strongest entries in the franchise by far.

The shorts did what they intended to do.

The latest 2 movies were not really anything like the rest of the series but they were pretty good.

The movies in from the late 2000s to the mid 2010s (4,5,6,7) were all facility mediocre but not unentertaining.

I had heard 4 was one of the strongest movies but to me it was probably the 2nd weakest after 5 which is also loved for some reason.



i always been huge fan of fast and furious movies. to me first fast and furious is always my favorite out of all of them!!
hope other latest ones will be good!!



As someone who's not into cars but is into entertaining movies, here's my thoughts.


#1 - good film.
#2 - watchable.
#3 - barely watchable.
#4 - getting better again.
#5 - very entertaining
#6 - good
#7 - average
#8 - average.



I actually watched the second one three times because I watched it with friends in multiple occasions. Overall, I think those movies are never great but they are quality entertainment when done right (like the 1st one).



I'm still surprised that a movie that ripped off Point Break managed to make so much money and spawn so many sequels.

1. Newbie FBI Agent
2. Gang of criminals who use extreme sports as their cover
3. FBI newb goes undercover
4. FBI newb uses a Shrimp Waitress to get into "the scene"
5. FBI newb identifies the wrong gang
6. FBI newb comes to see the leader of his current gang as a friend
7. FBI newb and Shrimp waitress fall in love
8. FBI newb realises his current gang are the real bad guys
9. Shrimp waitress realises FBI newb is an FBI newb, causes friction
10. FBI newb then has to join the bad guys on one last job
11. FBI newb tracks the leader of the gang, but lets him go

Tell me, have I just listed Point Break... or F&F...